By David Kavanagh | posted on October 18, 2019
THE mental health of people living in regional Western Australia is being highlighted this week at the WA Rural and Remote Mental Health Conference in Albany.
Hundreds of health professionals and members of the public converged at the Albany Entertainment Centre on Wednesday for the first in a series of seminars and activities hosted by the WA Country Health Service.
Clinical Director at Great Southern Mental Health Service Noel Collins said the conference’s broad aim was to allow experts to share insights on the topics of trauma, resilience and recovery and to network.
“There’s a huge focus now on understanding how trauma affects people’s mental and physical health and how you can help people recover from traumatic experiences,” he said.
“I wish I could say people in the Great Southern are immune to the effects of trauma but, of course, they’re not. Trauma is a universal experience.”
Among the three-day event’s guest speakers are National Mental Health Commissioner Professor Helen Milroy, Flinders University’s Director of the Centre for Remote Health Professor Tim Carey, and many others.
Their expertise range from child sexual abuse and Indigenous mental health to post-traumatic stress disorders and working with victims of crime.
Mr Collins said the conference, which runs every second year at different locations throughout the state, addressed some of the unique challenges faced by rural communities.
He said environmental events like drought, financial pressures and difficulty finding employment are “unique challenges” for those living outside metropolitan areas.
“There’s no doubt that in terms of access to mental health and primary care, that can also be very challenging for people living rurally and remotely,” he added.
“There’s just less psychiatrists, less psychiatric nurses and less GPs in rural areas.
“GPs are particularly important as they often bare the burden of mental health when there’s no psychiatrist available.”
The mental health of Indigenous Australians, who Mr Collins said are disproportionately affected by social factors like “unemployment, economic hardship, racism and the effects of inter- generational trauma”, is also an important topic of discussion at this year’s conference.
Its theme, Moorditjabiny, roughly translates to the Noongar term for “becoming stronger” or resilience.
“We wanted to make sure that a good proportion of this program provided a platform for Noongar and Menang people’s stories, not only of individual trauma … but a breadth of stories of strength,” Mr Collins said.
“We’ve got a lot of personal stories about resilience and lived experience, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous. It is a really valuable event.”
The conference will conclude on Friday morning.
